Environmental noise in hospitals: a systematic review de Lima Andrade, Erik; da Cunha e Silva, Darllan Collins; de Lima, Eligelcy Augusta ...
Environmental science and pollution research international,
04/2021, Letnik:
28, Številka:
16
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Environmental noise has been growing in recent years, causing numerous health problems. Highly sensitive environments such as hospitals deserve special attention, since noise can aggravate patients’ ...health issues and impair the performance of healthcare professionals. This work consists of a systematic review of scientific articles describing environmental noise measurements taken in hospitals between the years 2015 and 2020. The researchers started with a consultation of three databases, namely, Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect. The results indicate that for the most part, these studies are published in journals in the fields of medicine, engineering, environmental sciences, acoustics, and nursing and that most of their authors work in the fields of architecture, engineering, medicine, and nursing. These studies, which are concentrated in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, use as reference values sound levels recommended by the World Health Organization. L
eq
measured in hospital environments showed daytime values ranging from 37 to 88.6 dB (A) and nighttime values of 38.7 to 68.8 dB (A). L
eq
values for outdoor noise were 74.3 and 56.6 dB (A) for daytime and nighttime, respectively. The measurements were taken mainly inside hospitals, prioritizing more sensitive departments such as intensive care units. There is a potential for growth in work carried out in this area, but research should also include discussions about guidelines for improvement measures aimed at reducing noise in hospitals.
Graphical abstract
Noise pollution has become a public health problem in several countries worldwide. Noise maps are tools used in many cities, mainly on the European continent. In other regions, they are used in ...smaller areas, and few studies focus on hospital areas, considered noise-sensitive zones. In this context, this study aimed to perform sound measurements and noise maps for the day and night periods in the surroundings of three hospitals in Sorocaba, Brazil. Sound measurements occurred around the three hospitals based on NBR 10151 and ISO 1996 standards. The noise maps were drawn up using a calculation model based on ISO 9613–2. Results showed that the sound measurement points around the hospitals had levels above those recommended by the Brazilian standard for sensitive areas (L
Aeq
50 and 45 dB for day and night, respectively). The acoustic maps showed high sound levels on all faces of the hospital buildings, both during the day and at night. The worst scenario concerned the vicinity of the roads with the highest flow and speed of vehicles. We concluded that three different hospitals in the city have high sound levels in their surroundings above the recommended for sensitive areas.
•Consider the best way for the passage of fauna with the least financial cost.•56.9% of the ecological corridor proposed is in protected areas.•The cost of acquiring private areas to compose the EC ...is favorability.•The cost of acquiring 3.08 km2 of land for EC is approximately $131,610.28.
With the increasing human pressure on ecosystems, it is necessary to use tools to reduce the effects of fragmentation, increasing the gene flow of species, and the resilience of forest fragments and conservation units, and the ecological corridors (EC) have been noteworthy. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the best way to create an ecological corridor using spatial analysis techniques and calculate the purchase cost for its implementation between two important conservation units in the metropolitan region of Sorocaba, State of São Paulo, Brazil. For this, information plans (IPs) that reflected on the favorability for the displacement of fauna and the purchase of private properties were used, such as land use and vegetation cover, land use conflict due to slope, light pollution, legally protected areas, and purchase cost of these areas for EC implementation. The IPs were weighted by Analytical Hierarchical Process and the EC was obtained by the least cost path model. The estimated value for acquisition of private properties in the study area for EC implementation was US$175,028.91 (United States dollar). Therefore, the method is an excellent tool for decisionmaking by public authorities and implementation of ecological corridors, since it allows inferring the market value for its implementation considering the favorability of areas for the passage of fauna.
Abstract Finding alternatives to what is generally used in companies allows a different strategic vision to be built, which can lead to different results. In this context, the present study applied ...the Autonomous Maintenance pillar (AM) of the Total Productive Maintenance tool (TPM) in an unusual context. The AM is used to involve the various actors of the company in the conservation of equipment with the aim of improving their performance concerning a reduction of failures and an availability and reliability increase. In the present study, the AM had the objetive of mitigating the generation of waste in the production of a women's shoes industry, installed in a Local Productive Agglomeration (LPA). This APL is composed mostly of micro and small enterprises (MPE) that do not have the culture to using maintenance tools, but in its process generate hazardous waste. It is important to highlight that this kind of company does not typically use the concepts of industrial maintenance. In conclusion, with the implementation of the AM pillar, it was possible to reduce the volume of waste generated in the cutting sector, contrary to the fact that the company does not use the concepts of industrial maintenance in its strategic decisions, thus opening up new strategic possibilities for discussing the use of widely disseminated tools in some areas for other purposes.
Resumo: Buscar alternativas ao que usualmente é utilizado nas empresas, permite construir uma visão estratégica diferenciada, o que pode levar à obtenção de resultados diferentes. Neste contexto encontra-se este trabalho que aplicou o pilar de Manutenção Autônoma (MA) da ferramenta de Manutenção Produtiva Total (TPM) em um contexto diferente do usual. O MA é utilizado para envolver os diversos atores da empresa na conservação dos equipamentos com o objetivo de melhorar seu desempenho no tocante a redução de falhas, aumento da disponibilidade e confiabilidade. Neste trabalho o MA teve como objetivo a de mitigação da geração de resíduos na produção de calçados femininos, instalada em um Arranjo Produtivo Local (APL), composto majoritariamente por micro e pequenas empresas (MPE) que não tem a cultura de utilização de ferramentas de manutenção, mas que em seu processo geram resíduos perigosos. Deve-se salientar que se trata de um ambiente que não utiliza rotineiramente os conceitos de manutenção industrial. Ao final, com a implantação do pilar de MA, foi possível reduzir o volume de resíduos gerados no setor de corte, contrariando o fato de a empresa não utilizar nas suas decisões estratégicas os conceitos de manutenção industrial, abrindo assim novas possibilidades estratégicas para a discussão da aplicação de ferramentas largamente difundidas em algumas áreas com outros propósitos.
Understanding germination is extremely important for the production of seedlings that are used in revegetation of degraded areas. Some species enter dormancy as a survival strategy to overcome ...adverse environmental conditions. Their seeds germinate only when this process is interrupted, which can occur naturally when the conditions become more favorable for the survival of the species or by induction. Studies showed that ultrasound can increase the germination rate of seeds. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of an ultrasound probe and compare it with other methodologies implemented for seed germination of Senna multijuga (Rich.) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, a species used in revegetation of degraded areas. The experiment evaluated the effect of the ultrasonic probe at different powers on seeds that were placed to germinate in a gerbox on paper moistened with distilled water. Ninety-five percent of seeds treated with ultrasound and only 14% of non-treated seeds (control) germinated. There was no significant difference in the germination among the treatments with different powers. The speed of germination index (SGI) reached 4.7 in seeds that underwent the treatment, and 0.6 in the control group. From the results it is possible to conclude that the ultrasound probe is an efficient treatment to accelerate seed germination in this species; and consequently, contributed to production of a greater number of seedlings to be used in revegetation of degraded areas in a short period of time.
RESUMO: Entender a germinação é extremamente importante para produção de mudas utilizadas na revegetação de áreas degradadas. Algumas espécies são consideradas dormentes por apresentarem uma estratégia de sobrevivência para superar condições ambientais adversas. Essas sementes germinam apenas quando esse processo é interrompido, o que pode ocorrer naturalmente quando as condições se tornam mais favoráveis para a sobrevivência da espécie ou de forma induzida. Estudos demonstram que o ultrassom pode aumentar a taxa de germinação das sementes. Esse trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da sonda ultrassom e compará-la com outras metodologias utilizadas para a germinação de sementes de Senna multijuga (Rich.) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, espécie utilizada na revegetação de áreas degradadas. O experimento avaliou o efeito da sonda de ultrassom em diferentes potências sobre as sementes, que foram colocadas para germinar em gerbox sobre papel umedecido com água destilada. Das sementes que sofreram o tratamento com a sonda de ultrassom 95% germinaram, já das que não sofreram nenhum tratamento apenas 14% delas germinaram. Não houve diferença significativa entre as diferentes potências avaliadas. O índice de velocidade de germinação (IVG) chegou a 4,7 em sementes que sofreram o tratamento e 0,6 no grupo controle. A partir dos resultados é possível concluir que a sonda de ultrassom é um tratamento eficiente para acelerar a germinação de sementes desta espécie e, consequentemente, contribuir para produção de um maior número de mudas em curto período para serem utilizadas na revegetação de áreas degradadas.
Spatial analysis and fuzzy classification techniques were used to estimate the spatial distributions of heavy metals in soil. The work was applied to soils in a coastal region that is characterized ...by intense urban occupation and large numbers of different industries. Concentrations of heavy metals were determined using geostatistical techniques and classes of risk were defined using fuzzy classification. The resulting prediction mappings identify the locations of high concentrations of Pb, Zn, Ni, and Cu in topsoils of the study area. The maps show that areas of high pollution of Ni and Cu are located at the northeast, where there is a predominance of industrial and agricultural activities; Pb and Zn also occur in high concentrations in the northeast, but the maps also show significant concentrations of Pb and Zn in other areas, mainly in the central and southeastern parts, where there are urban leisure activities and trade centers. Maps were also prepared showing levels of pollution risk. These maps show that (1) Cu presents a large pollution risk in the north–northwest, midwest, and southeast sectors, (2) Pb represents a moderate risk in most areas, (3) Zn generally exhibits low risk, and (4) Ni represents either low risk or no risk in the studied area. This study shows that combining geostatistics with fuzzy theory can provide results that offer insight into risk assessment for environmental pollution.
Energy consumption has been increasing together with population growth and the consequences for energy production widely generate discussions under the aspect of environmental outcome and supply ...reliability and quality. This paper proposes a methodology that allows the estimation of the potential for cities to be more independent in terms of centralized generation and distribution of electricity considering photovoltaic sources. Sustainability and environmental performance are also discussed. The methodology aims to assess some municipalities in the São Paulo state. The results showed high potential for photovoltaic supply in those municipalities under the considered conditions indicating the possibility for structuring a decentralized generation model where cities would be more independent in electricity supply. Implementing the required photovoltaic systems would return the energy consumed during their life cycle in a relatively short period compared to their expected lifetime.
After years of dormant scenarios, the Brazilian industry of photovoltaic (PV) energy systems is now growing fast. Therefore, improving interconnection and certification codes, as well as standards, ...has become undeniably important to establish a well-regulated market under concern of businesses, equipment, and power quality matters. Thus, considering international standards and world-recognized scenarios for distributed PV systems, this paper aims to discuss the existing local energy regulations, grid connection codes, and other related limitations that restrain a faster market and technology development in Brazil. Special attention is given to the certification requirements for grid-connected inverters and other PV equipment, along with the new trends in energy policies, focusing on their impacts on Brazilian PV industry. In the end, it demonstrates that despite its current underdeveloped status, the Brazilian scenario is expected to be quite enthusiastic in the following years and may represent an attractive and dynamic market for professionals, companies, and energy investors.
The aim of the present work is the determination of porosity in tablets by using the gamma-ray transmission technique. Tablet dissolution depends on some inherent characteristics of the manufacturing ...process, such as compression force, tablet volume, density and porosity, nature of excipients, preparation methods and its physical–chemical properties. Porosity is a measure of empty spaces in a material and can be determined by various techniques. In this paper, we propose the use of a gamma-ray transmission technique to obtain the porosity of experimental formulation of tablets. The results of porosity were compared with those obtained by using conventional methodology (density and mercury intrusion). The experimental setup for gamma-ray transmission consists of a gamma-ray source of
241Am (photons of 59.6
keV and an activity of 3.7×10
9
Bq), an NaI(Tl) scintillation detector, collimators and a standard gamma-ray spectrometry electronics. Our results suggest that the gamma-ray transmission technique is a powerful tool for non-destructive porosity quantification of solid pharmaceutical forms and presents smaller errors than those obtained with conventional methodologies.
Understanding germination is extremely important for the production of seedlings that are used in revegetation of degraded areas. Some species enter dormancy as a survival strategy to overcome ...adverse environmental conditions. Their seeds germinate only when this process is interrupted, which can occur naturally when the conditions become more favorable for the survival of the species or by induction. Studies showed that ultrasound can increase the germination rate of seeds. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of an ultrasound probe and compare it with other methodologies implemented for seed germination of Senna multijuga (Rich.) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, a species used in revegetation of degraded areas. The experiment evaluated the effect of the ultrasonic probe at different powers on seeds that were placed to germinate in a gerbox on paper moistened with distilled water. Ninety-five percent of seeds treated with ultrasound and only 14% of non-treated seeds (control) germinated. There was no significant difference in the germination among the treatments with different powers. The speed of germination index (SGI) reached 4.7 in seeds that underwent the treatment, and 0.6 in the control group. From the results it is possible to conclude that the ultrasound probe is an efficient treatment to accelerate seed germination in this species; and consequently, contributed to production of a greater number of seedlings to be used in revegetation of degraded areas in a short period of time. Key words: Senna multijuga (Rich.) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, germination, seeds, ultrasound, revegetation. Entender a germinacao e extremamente importante para producao de mudas utilizadas na revegetacao de areas degradadas. Algumas especies sao consideradas dormentes por apresentarem uma estrategia de sobrevivencia para superar condicoes ambientais adversas. Essas sementes germinam apenas quando esse processo e interrompido, o que pode ocorrer naturalmente quando as condicoes se tornam mais favoraveis para a sobrevivencia da especie ou de forma induzida. Estudos demonstram que o ultrassom pode aumentar a taxa de germinacao das sementes. Esse trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da sonda ultrassom e compara-la com outras metodologias utilizadas para a germinacao de sementes de Senna multijuga (Rich.) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, especie utilizada na revegetacao de areas degradadas. O experimento avaliou o efeito da sonda de ultrassom em diferentes potencias sobre as sementes, que foram colocadas para germinar em gerbox sobre papel umedecido com agua destilada. Das sementes que sofreram o tratamento com a sonda de ultrassom 95% germinaram, ja das que nao sofreram nenhum tratamento apenas 14% delas germinaram. Nao houve diferenca significativa entre as diferentes potencias avaliadas. O indice de velocidade de germinacao (IVG) chegou a 4,7 em sementes que sofreram o tratamento e 0,6 no grupo controle. A partir dos resultados e possivel concluir que a sonda de ultrassom e um tratamento eficiente para acelerar a germinacao de sementes desta especie e, consequentemente, contribuir para producao de um maior numero de mudas em curto periodo para serem utilizadas na revegetacao de areas degradadas. Palavras-chave: Senna multijuga (Rich.) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, germinacao, sementes, ultrassom, revegetacao.
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